Timeskip
by SniperCT
Summary: Set after Pick-up Line, Tracer has disappeared following an accident with the Slipstream test plane. She's presumed lost, until Mercy and Emily see her blink into existence. They then hatch a plan with Winston to bring her back.


Emily blamed herself. It was her job to make that jet air worthy. If she'd looked harder, tested a little more thoroughly or just done _more_ , Lena would still be alive. And even worse, she wasn't the only one blaming themselves. Winston had developed the Slipstream technology with help from the late Gerard Lacroix and she'd found him down at The Shed more than once, drinking somberly.

No one knew what had gone wrong. One moment everything was clear and good, and the next Lena had winked out of existence never to be seen again. Winston had a wide variety of theories and technobabble that Emily had only vaguely understood. She was a mechanical engineer and while she had understood some of the physics involved her expertise had lain with the hardware that kept the jet aloft and not with the special technology that made it experimental. That was the key word, experimental. They'd all signed the paperwork, they'd all known the risks. It didn't make any easier.

Lena was gone. So much for their date or for getting to know her first hand. With everyone around Emily talking about Lena, the more she learned about her and the more she wished she'd gotten to know her.

Lena was a goofball, Emily heard. Master of pranks and always ready with a smile. She had a huge heart, she helped others even when it didn't make a difference to herself. At the wake, Emily learned Lena had a younger brother and by the time he was done speaking about her there wasn't a person without a smile, nor anyone with dry eyes.

LIfe went on, work went on. In an attempt to boost morale, Winston and Overwatch sprung for tickets for the crew to a ballet. It was a nice gesture even if most reviews said the show just hadn't been the same since it's star, Amelie, had been taken and her husband killed. Emily wondered if he might have been able to figure out what had happened to the airplane. It had been his design but it wasn't like anyone could travel through time..

At intermission, she excused herself from her date to use the loo. Washing her hands, she looked in the mirror, only to find a familiar face staring back. Lena Oxton started to say something, and then disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Emily nearly screamed. Her date told her she looked like she'd seen a ghost and she was pretty sure she just had.

"You seem distracted."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." Emily rolled up her sleeve, smiling tightly. "I think maybe I'm losing my mind."

"I'm afraid I can't help you there." Dr. Ziegler winked at her, then resumed Emily's checkup. "But so far you are in perfect physical health. I'd watch your sugar, though. It's a little high."

"I'll cut back." Emily leaned forward a bit, giving Angela her best smile. "How long are you going to be in England before going off to your next crisis somewhere?"

"A week or so. I've got a lot of people here that need check ups, and Winston requested my help with something. Why?"

Emily tucked some loose hair behind her ear. "I was wondering if you wanted to…" She trailed off, eyes widening as she stared past Angela's shoulder.

"Wondering what? What are you looking at?" Angela turned her head and stiffened abruptly. "Verdammt!"

"Please tell me you see her too?"

Angela was unable to look away. "Ja, I do."

Emily sighed, relief washing over her. She wasn't losing her mind. Angela could see Tracer too!

Lena flailed her arms at them, managing to get a single word out before she disappeared. _Help_.

Angela grabbed Emily's wrist. "Come on, we need to find Winston."

"I've already seen her four times in the past month." Emily explained as she was dragged along by the determined doctor. "I only knew her less than a day but it's like I can't get her out of my head." How could she otherwise explain it? Emily didn't really believe in love at first sight, but she did believe in _potential_ and Lena had seemed to be her type. She wore _crocs_ for god's sake. People like that didn't just grow on trees.

"I understand the feeling. Lena can affect a person like that." Angela had known Lena since before she'd been picked up by Overwatch. Her and the Lacroixs had brought Lena to Overwatch's attention and ever since Lena had disappeared Angela had felt a little irrational guilt over that. Many of their friends did as well.

Overwatch had many bases, all over the world. Winston was typically stationed at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, but had been at London Base for well over a year during the preparation for Slipstream. With his genius and his understanding of the temporal mechanics involved, he was their best chance at figuring out what to do.

They found him in a lab, tinkering with what looked like some kind of power source. He twisted it around with his feet while carefully using a screw driver.

"Winston?" Angela leaned into the lab. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course. Just give me...there." He set the device down as the two women came in. "What can I help you with?"

"We saw Lena. She was there, and then she wasn't." Angela was a doctor, she could be blunt when she needed to be. "Emily told me this isn't the first time she's appeared."

Winston looked grim, and then rubbed the back of his head. "Ah...that's because that wouldn't be the first time she's reappeared in our timeline."

"I'm sorry?" Emily stared at him.

"You _knew_ about this?"

"About a month ago she appeared in my lab," Winston explained, wincing in the heat of Angela's glare. "I was able to get some readings before she disappeared again. I believe she's suffering from Chronological Disassociation. She's become _unhinged_ from time."

Emily had to sit down. "You've known about this and you didn't tell anyone?"

"I had to be sure. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, and mine are already as high as they can be." Tracer was his friend. His best friend. As well as he got along with Angela and most of the others, it always had felt like Lena understood him the best. She was a lot smarter than people tended to assume. "Your timing is perfect."

He pointed to the power source. "I've modified this lab to emit a low level frequency. Once I plug that in and power it up, the resulting energy field will keep Lena anchored in our time, at least long enough for me to come up with a, ah, more portable solution."

"Has anyone else seen her?" Emily asked.

Angela had a different question. "Is there any way to lure her to us so we can get her into this room?"

"If they have they haven't told me, and I don't… know." Winston frowned. "I'm hoping that there's something about us that keeps bringing her back to us. I've been exposed the most to the tachyon particles emitted by the Slipstream and..."

"We're her friends," Angela said. "And friends are like anchors too."

"That gives me an idea," Emily said. Maybe they were both right. They could be anchors for Lena, either because of their exposure to the technology, or Lena's attachment to them. In either case, if they had enough people... "We bring all of her friends here."

It turned into a party, like another wake. This one started with a more hopeful mood, as people gathered. Winston continued to work on adjusting the energy field in hopes of finding whatever still tethered Lena to their timeline and yanking on it.

Emily had gathered Lena's ground crew, most of whom had known her longer than she had. She recognized other members of Overwatch. McCree and Morrison, Reyes and Lindholm. Even the famous Captain Amari was present. It was one thing to occasionally encounter these people while she was at work,but all of them in the same room was intimidating. Yet Lena had somehow touched all these people in the time she'd been with the organization and Emily suddenly understood a little better why Lena had drawn her to her so readily.

Slightly intimidated, Emily grabbed a drink and leaned against the outside of Winston's Chronal Chamber. She almost missed it at first, a little flicker in the crowd. A blue blur that blinked to and fro and then suddenly coalesced into form. Lena looked around, confusion and something a little like fear in her eyes.

For a gigantic gorilla, Winston moved fast. He plucked Lena up and carried her to the chamber. Almost as soon as Lena was inside she let out a gasp, collapsing to her knees, her shoulders shaking in wracking sobs.

Angela quickly ushered people out, hoping to spare their friend some of her dignity. She took Emily by the arm and led her out as well.

Winston and Angela didn't let any visitors in for the first few days. Whatever ordeal Lena had been through had been severe, and Emily wasn't very high on the list of visitors as it was. As long as she was alive, that was okay. She knew Winston would figure out how to help Lena eventually, and Emily had done her part.

So she wasn't expecting the loud voice that interrupted her work. Poking her head up out of the guts of an airplane, she spotted a tall, broad man with white hair and a big smile. She recognized him immediately, but then just about everyone knew Reinhardt as he always made it a point to learn peoples' names. She distinctly remembered her first conversation with him when she'd called him sir and he'd laughed. "Can I help you, Reinhardt?"

His voice boomed like a jet engine. "I am actually thinking that you can help me, liebchen. Lena asked for you." Reinhardt grinned, a beaming sort of smile that both set Emily at ease and made her incredibly nervous. "Come, come! No time to change!"

She barely made it down the ladder before Reinhardt had hold of her hand and pulled her through the base and she thanked her lucky stars he didn't pick her up and sit her on his shoulder. Grease stained, hair going every which way, she found herself placed in front of Lena in the Chronal Chamber.

Any worries about the state of her appearance faded in the way Lena's tired eyes lit up. She disappeared for a second only to reappear closer to the window. "Hope you weren't busy luv. But it occurred to me that I owed you a date."

She pointed, and Emily turned to see a tray on the table. There was a sandwich on it, along with what looked like a box of cheap wine. Emily laughed, pulling the table and a chair over before smiling at Lena. "You guessed my favourite sandwich. This is perfect, Lena."

Lena looked proud of herself, but if Emily looked close she could tell she wasn't as okay as she was letting on. But Lena had friends to help her through it. And now Lena had Emily too, in whatever way she needed.

Pouring herself a glass of wine, Emily leaned back and crossed her legs. "I just wish I'd had a chance to change."

"Oh, trust me luv, never seen anyone so beautiful as you look right now."


End file.
